A conventional video recording/playing apparatus has such a configuration as shown in FIG. 10.
As shown in FIG. 10, the video recording/playing apparatus comprises an information processing system 21, and a video input device 22. The video input device 22 is a means for inputting analog motion pictures and is carried out in a video camera, a video tape recorder (VTR), a television set, or the like. The case of a video camera is shown here as an example. The information processing system 21 is a system for recording motion pictures input through the video input device 22 and has a means for digitizing analog motion pictures input through the video input device 22, and a means for recording the motion pictures digitized by the digitizing means.
The outline of processing in the conventional video recording/playing apparatus having the configuration shown in FIG. 10 will be described below with reference to FIG. 11.
FIG. 11 is a flow chart of processing for specifying scene-changed points with respect to a series of continuous still images (motion pictures) input through the video input device 22, for example, for the purpose of head-review playing.
In the processing, capturing motion pictures is first started (step 501) and a one-frame's or one-field's analog still image input through the video input device 22 is digitized (step 502). The motion pictures input here through the video input device 22 have a standardized format such as NTSC, PAL or SECAM.
In the aforementioned processing, the digitized still image is then stored in a main storage device contained in the information processing system 21 (step 503). The still image is then compared with a still image stored just before the still image (step 504) and a judgment is made as to whether there is any scene change or not (step 505). In this occasion, the judgment as to whether there is any scene change or not is performed by comparing two still images pixel by pixel, calculating differences between pixels and calculating the sum of differences between all pixels. When, for example, the sum exceeds an arbitrary threshold, it is judged that there is some scene change.
When it is judged in the step 505 that there is some scene change, the point of time counted from the start of the capturing of motion pictures is stored in the main storage device (step 506). A judgment is then made as to whether the capture is completed or not (step 507) and, if the capture is not completed, the situation of the routine goes back to the step 502 to repeat the processing. If the capture is completed, a series of non-compressed motion pictures is stored in an auxiliary storage device contained in the information processing system 21 (step 508) and the processing is terminated.
The aforementioned conventional video recording/playing apparatus then displays a list of still images of the scene-changed positions on a display device contained in the information processing system 21, extracts the point of time stored in the main storage device in the step 506 and corresponding to an arbitrary still image designated from the displayed list by a user through an input device contained in the information processing system 21 and plays a series of motion pictures stored in the auxiliary storage device in the step 508 so that the head-review playing of the series of motion pictures is started from a still image (position) corresponding to the point of time.
A technique in which the change of a scene in motion pictures is extracted automatically so that the motion pictures inclusive of the scene-changed information are encoded, has been disclosed in JP-A-6-133305.
A technique for real-time displaying motion pictures on a display device, or the like, has been described in the magazine “Interface”, April issue, pp. 102-109, 1996, published by CQ Publishing Co.
In the conventional technique as shown in FIG. 10, however, there is no consideration of the quantity of data stored in the auxiliary storage device because a series of non-compressed motion pictures is captured and a scene change is detected so that the series of motion pictures is stored as non-compressed data in the auxiliary storage device.
Further, in JP-A-6-133305, there is no consideration of processing speed because the scene-changed information is included in the compressed motion pictures so that the scene-changed information must be retrieved from the motion pictures from the first to the last before playing whenever playing is tried.
Further, in the technique described in the magazine “Interface”, there is no consideration of displaying of motion pictures on a display device and recording of the motion pictures in an auxiliary storage device, or the like.
An object of the present invention is to provide a video capture device for real-time and simultaneously capturing motion pictures input through a video input device, as non-compressed motion pictures and as motion pictures which are compressed in a relatively high compression ratio by using a compressing technique and which can be played in high picture quality, a video recording/playing apparatus having the video capture device attached thereto, and a video input device.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a video recording/playing apparatus for performing video recording/playing in which an arbitrary still image in the aforementioned non-compressed motion pictures and an arbitrary still image in the aforementioned compressed motion pictures are associated with each other on the basis of information obtained on the basis of the non-compressed motion pictures to thereby make it possible to facilitate recording/playing of the motion pictures.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a video capture device in which odd-numbered field data and even-numbered field data in an interlace signal input through the aforementioned video input device are converted into data of different sizes and different color formats to be transferred to a different area or a different system when the aforementioned non-compressed motion pictures are captured in the aforementioned information processing system, and a video recording/playing apparatus having the video capture device attached thereto and for performing recording/playing of motion pictures input through the aforementioned video input device while monitoring the motion pictures through a display device contained in the aforementioned information processing system.